For more information about Chesapeake Academy, visit chesapeakeacademy.org, call 804-438-5575, or email adewolf@chesapeakeacademy.org. Public business address: 107 Steamboat Road, Irvington, VA 22480. Service area: Irvington / Northern Neck
Business & Innovation · Business feature
Chesapeake Academy puts hands-on learning at the center of its Irvington campus
The independent school brings early childhood and middle-school students into a shared community of making, arts and exploration.
A student working at a desk in Chesapeake Academy’s innovation hub is surrounded by the materials of making: tools, projects and ideas taking physical form. That setting captures a recurring part of the Irvington school’s approach—giving students opportunities to work with what they are learning.
Chesapeake Academy serves children from pre-kindergarten for three-year-olds through eighth grade. Led by head of school Catherine Emery, the independent school brings early childhood, elementary and middle-school education together on its Steamboat Road campus.
Its six-decade history gives it an established place in the Northern Neck, while the work pictured across the campus is distinctly active. Students build circuits in the innovation lab, sketch near the osprey statue and work with teachers on early literacy. Those examples show different ages using observation, conversation and hands-on activity as part of school life.
The innovation hub is one element of a broader program that includes the arts, athletics and field trips. For a school spanning such a wide age range, that combination creates several ways for students to participate as their interests and abilities develop.
The early-childhood setting has its own character within the larger campus. Close work with a teacher on reading and language sits at one end of the school’s progression; independent work on a design or project sits at another. The shared location connects those stages without making them identical experiences.
Chesapeake Academy’s public presentation emphasizes small classes and personal attention. The campus photographs give that idea concrete settings, from a classroom table to a project bench and the grounds outside.
Families considering the school can contact Chesapeake Academy to arrange an admissions conversation or learn about its programs. Its Irvington campus remains the starting point for a school community built around learning through participation.
